Mountain View council declares 'Stage 1' water shortage emergency

Even as rain pelted the Bay Area, the Mountain View City Council unanimously called a water shortage emergency Tuesday.

The "Stage 1" declaration authorizes city staff to ramp up efforts to educate the public about conservation programs and prohibited nonessential water uses, which include washing a vehicle with a running hose and serving water in a restaurant except upon request.

"This is something that we need to do," Councilman Mike Kasperzak said before the 7-0 vote. "And while it is raining now, we are still so far behind and we are at the end of the typical rainy season."

Indeed, the Sierra Nevada snowpack, a critical source of water for California, was 32 percent of average Tuesday, the lowest level on April 1 since 1988, when it was at 29 percent of average.

The council's decision follows Gov. Jerry Brown's declaration of a drought state of emergency on Jan. 17. Urban water suppliers including the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and the Santa Clara Valley Water District have since called on customers to reduce consumption by 10 and 20 percent, respectively.

Mountain View gets 87 percent of its drinking water from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, 9 percent from the Santa Clara Valley Water District and the rest from city wells.

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The council also passed an ordinance that adds its Urban Water Management Plan to the municipal code. Adopted in 2011, the plan outlines four water emergency stages, with the first reflecting a 10 percent shortage.If the drought worsens, the council could declare a "Stage 2" emergency, which would reflect a 25 percent shortage and prohibit the watering of yards between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. The time to fix broken water systems would be slashed from 10 to five days, and at-home vehicle washing would be banned unless done by bucket.

A "Stage 3" emergency, which would involve a shortage of up to 40 percent, would shut down commercial car washes that do not use re-circulating systems and prevent drinking water from being used to fill pools.

Called when a shortage exceeds 40 percent, a "Stage 4" emergency would provide just 24 hours to fix broken water systems and restrict irrigation of public parks, playing fields and school grounds to once per week.

The city already has the authority to install flow-restriction devices on the water lines of customers who use water in prohibited ways and ultimately discontinue service. The ordinance would extend those measures to violations of provisions outlined in the plan. It would also add the associated costs to the city's master fee schedule and adjust them annually for inflation.

A handful of residents pushed the council not to adopt what they called a "draconian" ordinance.

"I think that doing something like that is unconscionable, because you don't know particularly what those circumstances are," Jim Neal said about the prospect of the city turning off someone's water.

Councilman Jac Siegel said written notices and a hearing would lead up to any such action.

"The objective is not to turn people's water off," he said. "It's to get their attention and hopefully they'll respond after these many different ways we try to contact them and work with them."

Bay Area News Group Staff Writer Paul Rogers contributed to this report.